🔗 Share this article

Israel's cabinet has formally ratified a extensive truce agreement that includes the release of all outstanding captives held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, marking a major move toward terminating the damaging two-year war.

US Defense Role in Supervising the Truce

Senior authorities in the White House have stated that a American armed forces contingent of approximately 200 members will be sent to the area to "monitor" the cessation of hostilities after both Israeli authorities and Hamas consented to the initial phase of the former President Trump government's ceasefire initiative.

His responsibility will be to supervise, watch, guarantee there are no infractions.

Prompt Enactment Timeline

As per an Israeli spokesperson, the ceasefire should start right away following administration approval. The Israeli army was allocated 24 hours to withdraw its forces to an established position. Afterward, the detainees held in Gaza would be freed within 72 hours, a administration official stated.

Major Updates

• The militant group's exiled Gaza leader Khalil Al-Hayya said he had secured promises from the United States and other intermediaries that the hostilities was over.
• The leader of the American military's Central Command, General a senior US military official, would initially have 200 personnel on the site, a top US official said.
• Egyptian, from Qatar, from Turkey and probably from the UAE military personnel would be incorporated in the team, the American authority stated. A another authority clarified that "American forces are planned to go into the Gaza Strip".
• Israeli strikes continued in the period preceding the Israel's government's decision. Explosions were witnessed on Thursday in north Gaza, and a strike on a edifice in the Gaza capital claimed the lives of at least two people and resulted in more than 40 stranded under wreckage, as per Palestinian civil defence.
• A minimum of 11 fatally injured Palestinians and another 49 who were hurt arrived at medical facilities over the past 24 hours, the Gaza Strip's Hamas-run health ministry stated.
• Israel was targeting locations that posed a danger to its forces as they redeploy, stated an Israeli military representative who spoke on the basis of confidentiality. The militant group criticized Israel over the airstrike, saying that the Israeli Prime Minister was trying to "mix up the circumstances and disrupt" efforts by intermediaries to conclude the conflict.
• Twenty Israel's captives are still thought to be alive in the Gaza Strip, while 26 are believed fatally injured, and the whereabouts of two is unclear.
• Former President Trump government more extensive 20-point peace plan includes many unresolved questions, such as whether and how Hamas will lay down arms. But both sides appeared nearer than they have been in an extended period to terminating the hostilities, which was initiated by the militant group's October 7, 2023 offensive on Israeli territory, in which approximately 1,200 individuals were fatally injured and 251 taken hostage, leading to an Israel's retaliation that has left more than 67,000 Palestinians killed and nearly 170,000 injured, based on the Gaza Strip's health ministry.
• The IDF said an Israeli soldier, a 26-year-old reserve soldier, was murdered in a Hamas sniper incident in Gaza City on Thursday afternoon. This occurred after Israeli and militant representatives agreed to a agreement in Cairo to ensure the liberation of the detainees, but the halt in fighting component of the deal had not yet come into effect.
• Israeli media source Haaretz has made public the names of Palestinian inmates it thinks could be liberated as part of the latest deal. 250 Palestinian detainees who are completing indefinite detention are expected to be liberated as part of the arrangement, out of approximately 290 currently held in Israeli detention. 22 children will also be released.

Global Reaction

There have been no arrangements for British or EU military personnel to be in the Gaza Strip after the halt in fighting deal, the UK's top diplomat Yvette Cooper said. "That's not our plan, there's no intentions to do that," she commented on the current day morning.

The foreign secretary noted: "Nevertheless there is an immediate initiative for the United States to spearhead what is effectively like a observation process to make sure that this takes place on the ground, to supervise the system with hostage liberation, and also guaranteeing that this initial step is executed, bringing the relief in place, but they have also made very unambiguous that they anticipate the forces on the site to be furnished by neighbouring countries, and that is something that we do foresee to occur."

The foreign secretary said she hopes the halt in fighting will be implemented "right away". Based on the official, there are international negotiations on an "worldwide protection contingent" and the United Kingdom was continuing to assist in other manners, including looking at obtaining non-governmental investment into Gaza.

Civilian Feedback

Israelis and Palestinian residents alike rejoiced after the truce deal was announced, while there was elation but also apprehension in the Gaza Strip amid fears the recent deal could fail.